1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector having a seamless metal housing and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional electrical connector (jack) with multiple connection points. The connector includes a plastic base 10 and a metal housing 20. A plurality of terminals is disposed in the plastic base 10, and three connection portions 11 are formed on the front end of the plastic base 10. The metal housing 20 covering the plastic base 10 is integrally formed with a top surface 21, a front surface 22, a rear surface 23, and two side surfaces 24. The top surface 21 and the rear surface 23 respectively have two folding edges 25 and 26 at two sides. The front surface 22 is formed with three openings 27 through which the connection portions 11 of the plastic base 10 are exposed. The metal housing 20 is formed by cutting a metal plate into the shape of FIG. 2 and then folding the shape of FIG. 2 into the metal housing with an opened bottom end.
The prior art connector has the following drawbacks.
1. Because the metal housing 20 is formed by cutting the metal plate into the developed shape for forming the housing with a chamber, a lot of waste products are generated, the material consumption is great, and the consumed time is long.
2. The top surface 21 and each of the two side surfaces 24 are only in contact with each other without connection, so seams exist therebetween. Although the folding edges 25 for covering the seams are provided to enhance the sealing effect, the seams cannot be completely sealed. Similarly, seams also exist between the rear surface 23 and the two side surfaces 24 and the folding edges 26 for covering the seams are also provided, so the overall sealing effect still has to be enhanced.
3. The appearance is adversely influenced because of the seams and overlapped portions.